Severna Park - Emperor Wears No Clothes (Crofton: buying a house, neighborhoods) - Maryland (MD) - City-Data Forum

Manton · 02-19-2021, 08:00 PM

Another high school suicide in 2021 just like every year before. Another year of denial by the citizens of Severna Park.

There is something wrong with this place.

Manton · 02-19-2021, 08:25 PM

I was a life long resident of Anne Arundel County. I thought buying a house and raising my family in Severna Park was the penultimate goal. Get my kids into the best school system in Anne Arundel County, participate in their education and on to success. Unfortunately, Severna Park is the worst place to raise a family.

It has some great local neighborhoods. It is great when your kids are young and you are socializing in your tight neighbor hood, but when you cross the highway (Ritchie highway or "dragway" like I like to call it from all the car and motorcycle noise speeding from stop light to stop light) the real darkness appears. You enter the middle school system and your kids's ticket to the so called "Blue Ribbon" high school. Yeah I am from the Magothy side. The pretty river side.

Then the real bull crap begins.

Manton · 02-19-2021, 08:41 PM

Sports are HUGE! At least to SP parents. Do anything. Spend anything. Get your kid in the best travel club. Lacrosse is be all end all. Do whatever you can to get your kid in the best club team. Your status depends on it! And by all means let the kids drink and get high at your house cause your a cool parent.

Manton · 02-19-2021, 08:59 PM

Then there is the belief that Severna Park is some kind of Mayberry with Andy Griffith patrolling the town. Please. Severna Park straddles Ritchie Highway and to the west is Route 97. Basically anybody interested in smashing a car window and stealing change, stealing a car, putting a car on blocks and stealing tires and rims has easy access. And they take advantage of it. It is a regular occurrence. Don't leave your garage door open, you'll have a dope head stealing stuff out of your garage.

Manton · 02-19-2021, 09:21 PM

Back to the mental health of Severna Park. Is it something in the water? It is just F'd up. I had two kids attend multiple funerals for classmates that committed suicide. It's like a right of passage for a kid in Severna Park. You go to a church service after an suicide and we talk about how awful it is and how we need to support our kids no matter what...nothing changes. She was such a great athlete, had awesome grades, was accepted into the Ivy League school, then......

https://www.annapoliscreative.com/po...blem-part-two/

It's not just kids. Adults take their lives. Maybe it is because most of Severna Park lives above their means. Fake it to you make it. Statistics show Severna Park residents are more in debt than most people in Maryland.

emmmcubed · 02-21-2021, 07:17 PM

You sound unhappy there. Perhaps you should look into relocating.

I know several very nice people who have raised children to young adulthood in Severna Park, and who like it there just fine.

G1.. · 02-22-2021, 02:58 AM

The OP doesn't seem to understand the way the real World Works. Their concern should be getting any Child that is in situations like that easy access to the help they need . There are way to many differentials to place blame.

skeddy · 02-22-2021, 05:28 AM

silliest thing I've read here in a while.

bande1102 · 02-23-2021, 08:42 AM

Eh, I'm not a fan of Severna Park, although I did end up raising my kids in Crofton and there were alot of similarities. FWIW, I'm not originally from this area. When I first moved to the area, everyone pointed us toward Severna Park. We visited and researched and I just didn't see the appeal. We moved to Crofton simply because of location.

My husband and I coached sports in AA county for years. The competitiveness, political games, and pettiness was awful. The pressure on the kids alarmed us. The parents on the sidelines scared us. I coached elementary school basketball (8 year olds) and the parents were chanting and name-calling! WtH?

This area is so kid-centric and sports-centric, it is insane. Kids were signed up for multiple sports at a time, schedules were jam-packed, and everyone had personalized coaches. Family "vacations" were scheduled around games/tourneys/sports camps. I really had never experienced anything like this before.

If you weren't into sports, I don't know what you did or who you hung out with.

The high number of suicides in Severna Park (especially relative to surrounding areas) is quite alarming to me.

As for our kids, we ended up homeschooling them and removing them from that environment. They're grown now and happy, independent young adults.

I do wonder if the parents are under so much pressure, and debt, that it's being projected onto the kids. I have some good friends who say things to their kids like.....we sacrificed and paid all of this money so you could get a scholarship to a good school. So do it.......

bande1102 · 02-23-2021, 08:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Manton

Another high school suicide in 2021 just like every year before. Another year of denial by the citizens of Severna Park.

There is something wrong with this place.

The thing that really bothers me is that the community seems to prioritize their reputation (blue ribbon schools! high property values! water!) over the lives of its young people.